Break my Heart, Why Don't Ya?!

[I've yet to take pics of the hospital, so y'all get one of the northern Jordan landscape for now! :P]

Tonight I headed over to the “football” field (soccer) where some patients and hospital staff were playing.  I got there late, but a handful of people were still hanging out enjoying the cool, evening breeze (a relative statement in the Middle East ;).

I joined the conversation until my 26 words of Arabic ran out, and everyone went back inside except for a 27-year-old woman named A*.  A* is one of the inpatients in the hospital with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (TB).  TB causes people to lose a lot of weight, so this lady only weighs about 90 pounds.  Holding her thin arms out in front of her she tells me, “I used to be so beautiful.”  I assure her that, while I would like it if she gained some weight, she is absolutely lovely.  Turning her face toward me, she looks at me with her dark brown eyes in near-disbelief.  “Shukran, thank you,” she says, her expression of disbelief turning into a smile.

A* is an intelligent woman.  She knows four languages and can read and write fluently in Arabic (an impressive feat in itself), and is teaching herself to read books in English.  She knows how to dance. “I can do tango, salsa, and Arabian dancing.”  I am thinking a TB ward dance party might be in our future. *grin*

A* found out she had TB in her home country of Saudi Arabia. When the disease was discovered, she began treatment right away, wanting to get better for her infant son and husband of two years.  After months of medication and not getting better, it was found that her type of TB is resistant to several drugs and was referred to our hospital.

“Many people think just poor or dirty people get TB,” A* told me, “but my family is rich and we have everything we need.  Now I just need my health so I can get back to my beautiful husband and baby.  I miss them, Jamelh.”  

Jamelh (Jah-mee-lah) is the Arabic name my patients gave me.  It means ‘beautiful’ and ‘one who makes me happy when she comes to speak with me.’ 

A* has been here two weeks and her 16-month-old son has started walking.  He hears her voice and won’t let go of the phone.  “My husband says my baby has such sad eyes because I am away,” A* says, almost crying, “but I have to stay for maybe four months before I can be better enough to go back to him.”  

I ask her how she copes with being sick and away from her family and she mentions  praying to Allah, having hope that she will get well, reading books to pass the time, and spending time on a Galaxy phone that she gets calls from her family and pictures of her baby on. :P

We chat till it gets close to being too dark for ladies to be out by themselves and then begin to say our goodbyes till the morrow.  Reaching down for my keys, I am surprised when she flings her arms around me, kisses me on the cheek, and cries, “I love you, Jamelh, habibti!”  

I have a new friend.  What a blessing.

I am very much enjoying the many cultures of this hospital.  The patients are from Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Palestine, and more.  The staff from Jordan, Holland, Brazil, Egypt, South Korea, Canada, and more!  So fun!

You guys can be praying for me as I strive to obtain a workable knowledge of Arabic in the next couple weeks (ha – easy, right?).  In August, a couple of the nursing staff are leaving so they will be short-staffed and I will be functioning as a full-fledged nurse…in a language I don’t know.  I would love to be a competent nurse and especially be able to have good conversations with my patients, so please lift up my brain capacity for Arabic (why, Babel, why?! :P)

Pray for A*, that the God of hope would fill her with all joy and peace in believing that she may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit (Romans 15:13). 

Pray that the staff and patients of the hospital would worship and adore the One True God and give Him the glory that He so richly deserves (Revelation 4:11).

The Days are Being all Fleeting and Whatnot

I really need to blog; the stories are piling up. Just need the time and gumption to write! Bedtime with the Bedouins, Stargazing with Bombs, Grace to be Shared, Watermelon Love, My New Home, Bite in the Night...it's been quite a fun adventure thus far. *grin*

Here Safely!

And here's a pic of me looking down on the monastery at Petra to prove it!  Will write more about the journey to get to the Middle East later, but just wanted to let you all know that I am here safely. :)

Jordan Facts and Culture

Some culture tidbits and Jordan fast facts for you!

I am fairly familiar with Middle Eastern culture and things that go along with that such as modesty and hospitality, but I was glad to learn BEFORE I go of some more specific Jordanian culture taboos:

1. One should not carry/jangle my keys in their hands walking outside because it basically denotes prostitution.
2. Don’t go outside with wet hair – especially important for me as a single woman because the understanding is that women wash their hair after…doing things that only married couples should do.
3. Loose hair means loose woman – put that hair back!

As I briefly mentioned before, modesty is extremely important especially in Middle Eastern cultures and so if you see me looking frumpy and shapeless in pics, know it’s on purpose. ;)  

In America it's good manners to look someone in the eye as you talk with them, and in the South to smile at people as you pass on the street.  With women this should be JUST fine, but to do that in my interaction with men in Jordan would be considered flirtations.  I need to watch out that I don’t freely give away hugs to everyone, either – watch that gender interaction, Cara! :P

Except for a small portion of the Red Sea, Jordan is surrounded by other counties – Saudi Arabia on the southeast, Iraq on the east, Syria on the north (close to where I will be), and Israel on the west.

There are approx. 6,249,000 million people in Jordan.

The language is Arabic, but many people also speak English. 

Jordan is 8 hours ahead of Nashville time.

Religion is an important part of Jordanians' day-to-day lives.  The call to prayer is broadcast five times a day and during Ramadan (which starts the evening of July 8^th) many businesses are closed during the day.  Most of the country is Sunni Muslim.

Ramadan is the 9^th month of the Islamic (lunar) calendar and is considered a “month of blessing marked by prayer, fasting, and charity” focusing on self-sacrifice and devotion to Allah.  Muslims fast for the entire month whenever the sun is shining – they don’t even drink water throughout the day (which grips the heart of this ER nurse a bit – can only imagine the heat exhaustion cases that are seen during summer Ramadan months!).

Fasting (sawm) is one of the five pillars of Islam.  Confession of faith (shahada), prayer (salat), almsgiving (zakat), and pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) are the other four. 

(several of these tidbits came from http://www.gomideast.com/jordan/fastfax.html)

Shakespeare I am Not

I’m not eloquent.  I’m pretty good at knowing what I’m feeling / thinking, but the art of expressing it well verbally often alludes me.  Oh to be able to comprehend and aptly share “what is the width and length and depth and height – to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge” (Eph. 3:18-19).

This is one reason I love hymns.  Sometimes they capture what I want to say so well!  How eloquently they speak of the love of my LORD – you can almost feel the engulfing waters singing the words of Trevor Francis:

Oh the deep, deep love of Jesus, vast, unmeasured, boundless, free!
Rolling as a mighty ocean in its fullness over me!
Underneath me, all around me, is the current of Thy love
Leading onward, leading homeward to Thy glorious rest above!

O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best!
Tis an ocean full of blessing, ’tis a haven giving rest!

When I am tempted to feel inadequate, for instance when heading to Jordan knowing only 6 words of Arabic, hoping to somehow bring glory to God in the mere few weeks I am there, what encouraging reminders from Come Ye, Sinners:

Lo! th’incarnate God ascended, pleads the merit of His blood:
Venture on Him, venture wholly, let no other trust intrude.

Let not conscience make you linger, not of fitness fondly dream;
All the fitness He requireth is to feel your need of Him.

I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms;
In the arms of my dear Savior, O there are ten thousand charms.

It is not my strength that brings Him glory but His strength in even my own weakness (2 Cor 12:9)!  No, I should not lean on my overseas experience or nursing skills or generally cheery disposition, but only on my beloved Saviour, who someday I shall see face to face and, while I will probably first fall prostrate before Him, you better believe I will eventually end up in His arms! :)

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said
Who unto the Savior for refuge have fled?

Yes, He Himself is sufficient and has given me everything that I need to obey and love Him wherever in this world I am.  How I look forward to seeing what He has in store especially in these next few months!

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.  (Eph. 3:20-21)  Praise be to His name.